The Glistening Collars
by Toofdap
Summary: Remus, a strange dog, and a peculiar full moon dreaming about the dog, a rat and a stag? Pairing: RemusSirius. Warnings: Slash, angst. Work in progress
1. The Glistening Collars

The Glistening Collars

_Archive_: Padfoot...Snuffles SBRL, Azkaban's Lair (if Nezad wants it), Meant to Be  
_Summary_: Remus, a strange dog, and a peculiar full moon dreaming about the dog, a rat and a stag?  
_Pairing_: Remus & Sirius  
_Disclaimer_: All characters etc belong to JK Rowling - I just 'borrow' them from time-to-time  
_Spoilers_: POA   
_Author's Notes_: MWPP era. / denotes Remus' thoughts. This fic is longer than my usual stand-alones and is begging for a follow-on fic, so please let me know if you think it deserves one!   
_Warnings_: none that I can think of winks  
_Feedback_: is more than welcome at   
_Nice, Black! Not too soppy, not too austere. Good characterization of all four boys, but especially Remus and Sirius, who are much more elaborated upon within the plot. I would defintely encourage you to expand this story or to write a series of related stories.  
Thanks for a lovely day-after-Christmas treat!"_ Spydre/Carrie  
_"I really enjoyed this story. Remus' emotions were very touching and it was a very sweet, unusual use of collars. I hope you do a follow-up as well!"_ Xellas  
_"Seeing as you practically stopped in the middle of the story I'd say it does merit a sequel. But mostly for the wonderful idea with the collar exchange. They're so cute, the both of them! Time to save Remus from his morose state of mind..."_ Mariann  
_"Yes I think a follow up is in order! that was a great story I really liked it that Remus confided in the 'dog'. That was cool" _Kith  
_"I'm glad you wrote the sequel for Collars 1. This is a very nice idea. We want to cheer when Sirius chooses Remus as his date for the Ball and we are sad when all that Remus has is the Pensieve and the collar.   
The end is very poignant. Yes, Sirius wold be back to him, but then, unfortunately, will be taken from him again...  
Thanks for sharing.!"_ Lee

---------------------------------------------

Remus sat alone in the library looking mindlessly around the room. Sirius and James had told him to meet them on the Quidditch pitch that evening, so that would leave him an hour or two in the library with his thoughts. He'd had a rotten week, detention in Potions for his cauldron exploding, extra Divination homework, and Defence against the Dark Arts was highly embarrassing as the Professor was asking question on werewolves, and seemed to be focussing the questions on Remus. He felt utterly useless, able to do nothing special; he wasn't attractive like Sirius and James, and never top of the class in anything. Valentine's Day had passed this year with no card and his birthday had gone largely unnoticed. The other Marauders of course knew of his condition, but Remus noticed they had been acting differently around him since they found out. They seemed more on edge every full moon than he did himself. 

Remus rested his head in his hands and sighed. What he'd give to be 'normal', or at least for people to treat him as such. To accept him for what he is, not to try and change him to fit their mould of a stereotypical werewolf. In the last lesson he'd been paired with Lily Evans, which wasn't too bad. At least she didn't freak out when he spoke to her.  
/I'm just useless. I haven't succeeded where I should have done... I may as well just go on to bed rather than go out to the pitch tonight. I expect they'll only want to take the mickey out of me or play a prank or something./  
He remained in the library for another 20 minutes before curiosity got the better of him, and he slowly made his way to the door, dragging his feet as he traipsed along the corridor.

Taking no notice of the portraits' concerned looks; he wandered morosely down the corridor, eventually reaching the main door. Carefully, he slipped through the doorway and slowly made his way to the pitch, his hand in his pocket gripping his wand tightly. If he had needed to use it, there wouldn't have been much effect: his uninspired attitude meant he no longer had good control over his wand. Hoping he wouldn't come across Snape, he continued walking up the edge of the Quidditch pitch. James was standing on the edge of the pitch, but when Remus looked around, there was no sign of Sirius. James walked towards him, searching through his pockets as if he'd forgotten something. "Forgot something, Remus," he explained as he drew near, "I might be back later." James ran back towards the castle, without another word, or even a backwards glance at Remus.

Standing on the edge of the pitch, Remus scanned the area for any sign of Sirius. /He's obviously forgotten, the useless twit. There really wasn't any point in me coming down here this evening/  
Looking again, his eyes adjusting to the black void of darkness covering the pitch like a thick black duvet, he could see something in the distance: it seemed to be an animal. The wolf inside him wanted to howl, staking the grounds as its territory, but Remus kept his mouth clamped firmly closed for fear of anyone discovering him for what he was. The starlight glow briefly illuminated the path of the animal, and Remus could see the outline of a large black dog. /A dog? It must be lost, students aren't allowed dogs, and Filch only has a cat./

Remus looked behind him to check Mrs Norris the cat was nowhere in sight before softly calling "here boy" under his breath. The dog bounced up to him, wagging its tail so frantically it nearly overbalanced and toppled over. Remus reached out his hand and ran it through the jet-black coat. He found it oddly satisfying and relaxing to do this, feeling some of his pent-up emotions slowly melting away, being absorbed into that thick shaggy black coat.

"You don't seem to be scared of me," he said to the dog in a low voice. "I think you're the only thing which has behaved normally when near me. Even my best friends treat me differently now. Every month they seem to run away, I never see them until Madame Pomfrey releases me from the hospital wing." 

Remus stared into the dog's grey eyes. They looked strangely familiar, but he'd never seen a dog at Hogwarts before, let alone this particularly odd-looking dog. The only canines he'd seen on a regular basis were at home before he was bitten: his parents had banned him from having any contact with dogs after that in case it triggered the wolf inside him to react. Remus tickled the dog behind its ear, a smile encroaching on his face as the dog leant into Remus' touch before overbalancing, its tail still wagging madly. It was the first time he'd felt this happy in months, all the anger and frustration he'd stored inside melting away in the touch of that long fur. The frustration of his friends deserting him on the full moons slowly eased, his mind no longer thinking of it. All his thoughts gradually disappeared, taking his stress with them. For the first time in at least a year, Remus felt calm and that brought another small smile to his face.  
"I wonder where Sirius has got to," he wondered out loud, his voice breaking the stillness of the evening. "I bet he's forgotten. Either that, or its some kind of trick and they're watching, laughing,"

As he pondered over these thoughts, Remus felt the dog nuzzle against his outstretched hand, moving closer, its tail held low as if it had run out of energy. Remus knelt down and the dog lay its head in his lap. Finding this oddly reassuring, Remus pushed thoughts of a trick out of his mind and ran his hand over the dog's head. The dog wagged its tail gently and seemed to give a contented sigh. Looking at its face, Remus almost thought he could see it smiling, but he must have been mistaken. /Dogs don't smile... do they/

As the night drew closer, Remus began to feel cold; his robes not warm enough to keep out the chilly breeze. Reluctantly he stood up, looked down at the dog and whispered, "I'd better get back before Filch catches me. Thank you," before making his way back to the dorms. He couldn't wait any longer for Sirius to arrive, but at least he'd found a new companion for one night.

The next evening, Remus waited for the common room to empty before making his way to the Quidditch pitch again. He was hoping his canine companion would be there, especially as the full moon was drawing close. His mind became increasingly Lupine from three days before the moon, and the day of the moon itself would be almost unbearable. His friends didn't seem to notice his absence as he walked out of the common room, heading for the pitch. He wasn't sure if the dog would reappear tonight, but he wanted to be there in case.

Stepping onto the pitch, he could see the familiar grey eyes in the distance. Before he could say anything, the dog came padding towards him, its movement more flowing, almost as if had been practising. Remus shook his head /why would a dog need to practise? I think my brain's given up for the evening/.

He knelt down again, and started stroking the dog from its neck down to its tail. There were more thoughts preying on his mind this evening, different to the previous night. Checking no one was nearby to overhead, he moved a little closer and whispered to the dog, "if only they knew. But that would give everyone here another reason to despise me. A werewolf is one thing, but a gay teenage werewolf is too much to handle." 

At the word 'gay', the dog seemed to jump slightly, its eyes widening, be Remus shook that thought from his mind. /Giving an animal human characteristics only leads to problems./  
"I brought you something tonight, I made it myself."  
Remus pulled a small grey collar from the pocket of his robes. Pointing his wand at the collar, he muttered "corusco" and it began to glitter. Reaching forwards, he put it on the dog, tickling behind its ear as he did so. "It's not much, but I hope you like it." The dog stepped back and trotted around Remus as if showing it off. Remus sat on the cold grass and waited for the dog to finish admiring his new collar.  
Eventually, the dog ran out of energy and flopped down on the grass in front of him. Remus was enjoying his evenings for the first time in years, releasing his tensions and emotions with the strangely therapeutic action of stroking this dog. It helped take his mind away from the next evening's full moon and his subsequent painful transformation.

Many hours passed before Remus was too cold to remain outside: the others might at last be wondering where he was. He hadn't mentioned the previous evening to them and was certain he would do the same about today. Standing up, he looking at the dog, this time looking over its shoulder in case the wolf rose behind his amber eyes.  
"I won't be out here for a couple of nights. Two nights time I'll be back in the hospital wing, but I will be back."  
Making his way back to the dorms, he was surprised that the other boys were sound asleep. /They obviously don't care about me, they didn't even notice I'd gone./  
With a heavy heart, only lightened by his new-found canine companion, he crawled into bed and fell asleep instantly. He was sound asleep when Sirius entered the room an hour later, crawling into bed silently for fear of waking the other boys.

The next morning, he woke as James and Peter left he room for breakfast. Stretching out to prepare himself for the arduous night ahead of him, he looked over towards Sirius who was sitting on his bed. Sirius was holding something in his hands, something that glittered when the sunlight caught it, gazing down at it.  
/That looks like that collar I made the dog yesterday but how did he get it/  
Remus walked over to him, staring at the collar in Sirius' hands. It was the one he'd given the dog last night, but surely Sirius hadn't stolen it from the dog? Sirius looked up, fixing his gaze on a point over Remus' left shoulder and smiled. "Thanks for the collar," he whispered, "it fits perfectly."  
Remus stared at him, completely confused.  
"We haven't abandoned you," Sirius continued, "its just taken ages to learn."  
Remus' eyes asked the question his voice couldn't bear to ask. Sirius screwed his eyes in concentration and Remus blinked. Shaking his head, Remus found himself staring back at the big black dog, who screwed his eyes and transformed back into Sirius.  
/Sirius an Animagus? But why/

"Why, I mean, how I mean, tell me," he said in a hushed voice.  
"Why will be answered in due course. How, was the Animagus spell, and can I say that Padfoot has just discovered how much he likes his ears tickled."  
"Padfoot?"  
Sirius nodded, "that's the name I gave my Animagus form."  
Remus smiled, then began to blush as he remembered something else he'd confided to the dog the previous night.  
"Padfoot," Sirius continued, "is also keen to point out that only he and I know what was said over the two last nights, especially what you said about preferring men to women. No one else will ever hear - it will never be repeated."   
Remus' knees gave way, his legs feeling like jelly. He fell onto Sirius' bed a mixture of thoughts and feelings. /What a morning! The mystery dog turns out to be Sirius, but he won't explain why. I just need to try and keep my mind tonight and not think over this too much, otherwise the wolf may try to find that dog over the full moon. I can't afford to endanger Sirius tonight./

----

That afternoon, Remus was lead into the shack by Madame Pomfrey who saw the strange dog sitting at the edge of the woods. She didn't see the rat or stag lurking in the forest though, nor did she realise the rat and dog were watching her every move. Remus kept his head down, not even noticing the dog watching him from the shadows. Hitting the tree knot with a small branch, she led Remus down into the tunnel. As she re-emerged from the tree several minutes later and made her way back to the castle, the rat ran towards the willow and flung itself against the knot. The stag followed the rat into the tunnel, with Padfoot checking there was no one watching before he too jumped down in the tunnel and raced along to the shack.

Blood curdling howls awaited them, as the fully-grown werewolf could smell human blood from the castle. Padfoot reared onto his hind legs as they reached the door, turning the handle with one paw. Wearing his new glittering collar, he pushed the door with his nose before cautiously entering the room closely followed by the stag and rat. The door slammed shut and magically locked behind them as the wolf looked around. The three Animagi had never encountered a fully-grown werewolf before, but all dropped their gaze to its paws to signal submission: something Sirius had instructed them to do. As Padfoot drew closer to the wolf, there was a flicker of recognition in its amber eyes. Although Remus' mind and body were taken over by the wolf, his memory was still his own, and the sight of the collar triggered the memory of the previous two nights.

The wolf seemed to forget about the smell of humans, and set about chasing the three animals around the room instead. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the wolf sank to the floor in the corner of the room and fell asleep. As he did so, the door magically unlocked, and the three Animagi took their opportunity to leave the shack and head back to the forest. Padfoot reached the tree line first, and transformed back, closely followed by Peter and James. Taking the invisibility cloak from his pocket, James covered the three of them and they rushed back to the dorms: there was always a chance that on the full moon nights, a professor may check all the students were asleep, so they needed to return quickly.

Finally arriving back in their dorm, James locked the cloak back into his trunk before sitting on the edge of his bed. Peter was standing in the doorway shaking from head to toe, looking like he'd just run a marathon.  
"I hope this helped him tonight," Sirius mused as his looked out of the window towards the Whomping Willow.  
"He didn't seem to mind us being there," replied James, "what's wrong Peter? You look like Peeves just dropped a bucket of ice on you!"   
Sirius looked over at Peter and gave a hoarse bark-like laugh, "he's run further than us tonight, his legs are shorter!"   
"Also, I... I've n-n-n-never seen a... a..." stammered Peter.  
"Werewolf before?" Sirius offered, "nor me."

James looked over at Sirius with a quizzical expression, "seeing as we're unregistered Animagi, we'd better give ourselves names, else someone will eventually work out what's going on. At least then we can talk about things without worrying too much about others overhearing."  
"Good idea mate. How about Peter being Wormtail, after all, that rat's tail of his is truly disgusting."  
James grinned, "you've already christened your dog Padfoot haven't you, so that just leaves my stag."  
Peter looked up, the shaking subsiding, "how about P-P-Prongs?"  
James grinned, "Padfoot Prongs and Wormtail, excellent. But when are we going to tell Remus, our little Moony?"  
Sirius thought for a moment before replying, "I'll see to that."

Remus awoke in the hospital wing, exhausted but surprised to find there was a distinct lack of broken bones. Madame Pomfrey was also surprised, but busied herself making reviving potions after allowing Sirius in to visit his friend. Remus hadn't noticed Sirius enter, but was trying to work out a dream he'd had the previous night. A dog rat and stag had played chase with him in his dream /maybe that's why I feel too tired. Running in dreams must wear out a werewolf or something/  
Sirius sat next to the bed and waited for Remus to notice him. Several years of knowing Remus had made him aware that when he's thinking, you don't interrupt him. Remus broke his thought waves to look at Sirius, a strange expression on his face.  
"How was last night, Remus? Easier than normal?"  
Remus looked into Sirius' grey eyes, trying to read the thoughts that lay behind them. He considered his reply carefully before drawing breath to answer. "Who wants to know?"   
An odd lopsided grin broke out on Sirius' face as he quietly replied, "Mssrs Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs. Sorry if we tired you out last night."  
/That wasn't a dream? They did all that work? How did they get in the willow/ "Why? How did you manage it?"  
"Well, you've already seen Padfoot, Peter was the rat, and James the stag. He decided to choose a form where he could still show off to the girls. Each full moon we've been learning the Animagus spell so we could help you through those full moon nights. I read that werewolves are pack animals and they will never harm their pack. We decided to see what would happen: if we could help. Peter hit the knot after Pomfrey left, and when you finally fell asleep we came back."

Remus lay there silently; almost afraid to move in case he woke up from what surely must have been a dream. Realisation dawned on him when he pinched himself and he let out a stifled yell of pain. His three friends hadn't been deserting him; they had wanted to surprise him with the effort of the spell they'd learnt to aid him.  
"Thanks," he whispered, his voice half strangled with emotion. "This is the first morning after the moon that I've woken with no broken bones. How can I ever repay you for that?"  
"There is a way," replied Sirius, his eyes glinting, "on the pitch tonight as you had promised." Remus smiled and nodded, wondering what his repayment would involve. As Sirius left the room, Remus found himself looking at the boy's muscular frame. Sirius was strong looking, but not out of proportion. /Stop it Remus, he's perfect but straight. No good fantasising over him, it'll never happen./

-- 

The next evening, Remus returned the pitch and looked around for those glinting grey eyes. /Maybe he forgot. Maybe he won't turn up at all./ Remus looked around him again, rapidly losing hope, when a streak of light caught his eye from the opposite side of the pitch. He walked towards it nervously, his hand clutching his wand just in case. As he approached, he could see Sirius sending out streaks of light from his wand. Standing still, silently looking at Sirius, he waited for his repayment task to be explained. All he was hoping was that it would be easy to accomplish.

Sirius stopped waving his wand, drew a package from his robes and handed it to Remus. "Part one."  
Remus took the package and opened it, pulling a glistening golden collar from the paper. "It's beautiful," he whispered, "but I don't see how this repays your efforts?"  
Sirius looked him directly in the eye. "That's the matching set for the one you gave me. Now, each full moon the wolf and Padfoot have an instant connection. I've charmed it so it expands with the neckline of the wolf, and is almost invisible when you're wearing it normally. In fact, I've done much the same with it as you did with mine."


	2. The collars glisten on

Remus looked at the notice on the common room wall: due to popular demand there would be a Yule ball this year.  
/Oh great, the first chance for the entire school to see I have no one to take to the ball./  
He could hear James asking Lily Evans if she would go with him, and apparently Peter had already been successful in asking a tall Hufflepuff fifth year to accompany him. Sirius entered the common room to calls of, "Who are you taking then, Sirius?"  
He looked around the room and the eager faces, all the Gryffindors had placed bets on which lucky girl would be dancing the night away with Sirius, and they were all keen to discover if they'd won their share of Chocolate Frogs.  
"I haven't asked the lucky one yet," Sirius replied, with an award-winning grin, "but I'll let you all know tomorrow."   
Remus tore his eyes away from the muscular body of Sirius, it was no use kidding himself that his friend would take him to the ball: Sirius would be taking some beautiful girl, not a gay teenage werewolf.

That evening, Remus decided to take a wander down to the Quidditch pitch after the Gryffindors had finished their training for the next match. He was hoping Sirius would be down there in his Animagus form, as there were lots of emotions running through his blood that needed to be taken away by stroking his hand through the rough black fur of Padfoot. As he approached the pitch, he didn't spot Padfoot, but there was a figure on the opposite side of the pitch, looking like it was expecting someone to arrive. From the other person's height, Remus guessed it was a student, as most of the Professors were rather taller (apart from little Professor Flintwick who'd recently joined the school). The other person looked up, and Remus recognised them instantly.  
/Sirius... but what's he doing down here as him? He must be planning to meet the girl he's going to take to the Yule ball - as far as I know he's not asked anyone yet, and he needs to have a name by tomorrow morning, when the rest of the house ask who he's taking. I might as well walk away... but I can't, he's seen me/

Remus drew closer to Sirius, who motioned for him to sit down on the small seat Sirius appeared to have magically made earlier. The air was silent between them, as if neither could bear to make the first sound, or decide what they were going to say. Finally, Remus decided to break the silence and quietly uttered,  
"so, Sirius... have you decided who you're going to take to the yule ball yet?"  
Sirius looked up, staring to the left of Remus' eyes, in the manner he'd become accustomed to, and drew a deep breath.  
"I've decided, and Padfoot wants to lead me to the person I'm taking."  
Slight confusion was shown in Remus' eyes, but Sirius didn't notice as he screwed up his eyes and concentrated. The big black dog of Padfoot took two small steps forwards and sat in front of Remus.  
Remus looked around, surely the girl Sirius was meeting would appear soon, but he was quickly shaken from his thoughts, as Padfoot raised his left front paw and placed it on Remus' knee.  
"Me?" Remus' voice came through the crisp still air, "what do you mean you want to take me, you're not... are you?"  
Sirius transformed back into himself. "If you mean am I gay, the answer is yes. If you mean am I in love with you, the answer again is yes, and if you mean am I offering to take you to the Yule ball, then a simple yes from you will seal it..."  
Remus took a couple of seconds to let Sirius' words sink into his mind. He took a breath to answer, but the powers of vocal communication seemed to have deserted him. He simply nodded his head at Sirius, who grinned back and let out a bark-like laugh, "or of course, a nod will suffice."  
/What will everyone say tomorrow when he says he's taking me? I don't care, really... my ultimate fantasy partner has come true/

The following day, Remus was again in the common room, and the entire house was awaiting Sirius' entrance, and subsequent announcement of who he was taking to the ball. Eventually, he entered the room, and an expectant silence greeted him. The voice of an eager sixth year carried across the room,  
"so come on then, Sirius. Who are you taking?"  
Sirius looked around and the even more eager faces, and gave a toothy grin.  
"I am taking the person who means the most to me, the one who I feel is my soul mate. The one I want to be with forever."  
He walked over towards Remus, who looked slightly embarrassed at the stares of their housemates on him. As Sirius neared, he wrapped his arm over Remus' shoulder and leant down to him. Remus looked up and melted into his kiss to the surprise and shock of the female students. Neither boy was aware of the reactions in the room, the happy tears streaming down Lily Evans' face at the sight of Remus finally finding a partner, the shocked look on James' face, or Peter having fainted and being revived by some of the third year students. Remus and Sirius were only aware of the kiss that brought them together forever, that seemed to last an eternity, but when it was over, needed to continue,

-- 

Remus stared at the pensieve. That and his collar were the only two remaining connection he had with the Sirius he loved. For twelve lonely years he'd worn his collar in a silent vigil for his incarcerated mate. He knew there was very little chance of Sirius being released from Azkaban - even if he was, there was a strong possibility that his mind would have been irreversibly changed by the presence of the Dementors, and the Sirius that returned would be different to the one he'd lost. They'd altered the collars slightly after the Yule ball, changing the non-transformed state of them into golden chains, with small figures on them to constantly remind them of their relationship, and display it to whoever looked closely at the collars.

Each morning, Remus made himself a mug of tea, and made a mug of coffee with one sugar. He'd sit down at the small table, placing the mug of coffee at the empty place setting, on a placemat with a large black dog in front of a crescent moon on it. Sirius had always liked their little routine each morning, after he'd gone to live with Remus when they'd left Hogwarts, and Remus was determined to keep that in place. In fact, he was sure the only reason he did that was to ensure Sirius' memory stayed vivid and fresh in his mind.

Remus saw an owl flying towards the closed window of the cottage, and rushed to open it. Just as the owl appeared to be destined to crash into the glass, he opened the window and caught the copy of the Daily Prophet before the owl flew off again. Remus had given up on reading the entire newspaper, preferring instead to read just the front page before binning it. Sitting down at the table again, Remus leant over the mug of tea and inhaled the scent. It didn't seem right without Sirius completing the routine by inhaling the coffee aroma, but he did it anyway. He unfolded the paper and looked at the front page, only to find Sirius' picture staring back at him.  
/Sirius... broken out of Azkaban... my Sirius... free.../  
It didn't seem possible, but as he looked closer at the photograph, Remus could tell Sirius still had his own mind, that he somehow hadn't been affected by the Dementors: Sirius was still wearing the collar he'd given the dog all those years ago. The golden chain, with links concealing a small dog and wolf forever entwined.

As he set down the paper and drank some of his tea, Remus knew in his heart that Sirius was innocent. He knew Sirius would return to him, his mate, as he was still wearing the collar. Remus finished his tea and walked to the front door with a new spring in his step. Sirius would come back to him, and he would be ready. Standing outside the front door, he pulled out his wand and set Dementor-repelling charms on the pathway and house, waiting for the day when Sirius would find him again.


End file.
